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News from the Health Law Gurus™: Week of June 15th, 2014

News from the Health Law Gurus™ is a weekly summary of notable health law news from around the country with helpful links to related content. Check back every Friday for the latest health law news stories.

AMA Releases Policy on Telemedicine—Last week, the American Medical Association (“AMA”) released a policy on the provision of telemedicine services to patients. While there is no agreed upon definition of telemedicine, generally, telemedicine refers to an encounter between a patient at one site and a physician at another site through the use of audio and visual communication devices, sometimes across state lines. The AMA policy reviews a number of existing telemedicine arrangements and makes recommendations for the practice of telemedicine including: requiring physicians to be licensed in the state where the patients receive the services, requiring at least one face-to-face consultation between a patient and physician in order to establish the relationship, and requiring proper documentation of physician-patient encounters. In announcing the policy, AMA President Dr. Robert M. Wah stated, “This new policy establishes a foundation for physicians to utilize telemedicine to help maintain an ongoing relationship with their patients, and as a means to enhance follow-up care, better coordinate care, and manage chronic conditions.” To read the AMA policy, click here.